Prayers before town meetings a tricky case

Americans have reached a rough truce on the role of religion in many areas of public life.

Students can pray in school, for example, but because public schools are part of government, they can't officially organize or promote prayer.

Crèches and other religiously themed Christmas decorations on public property are usually permissible, as long as people of other faiths can display their symbols, as well.

But the question of whether government meetings can, or should, open with a religious invocation is tougher. Supporters of legislative prayer point out that both chambers of Congress routinely begin their sessions with a brief prayer, as do state legislatures. Even the Supreme Court opens with the religious phrase, "God save the United States and this honorable court."

So, what's the problem?

Well, as the justices demonstrated when they heard arguments Wednesday in a case from Greece, N.Y., this is tricky ground. Crafting a constitutionally acceptable rule that will satisfy those of all faiths (and those of no faith) might require the same sort of goodwill and self-restraint that worked to lower the temperature of the school-prayer battle and the so-called war on Christmas.

The case got to the court because two women who regularly attend the monthly town board meetings - a Jew and an atheist - objected that the sessions typically opened with an explicitly Christian prayer. Everyone in the room was sometimes asked to stand or at least bow their heads. And unlike meetings of Congress or state legislatures, where citizens are typically observers, those who attend town meetings are often trying to get officials to rule on their personal requests, which makes it doubly uncomfortable to object.

The women sued on the grounds that though the First Amendment explicitly says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion," the town of Greece had clearly signaled that it favored Christianity. A federal appeals court agreed, holding that the "steady drumbeat of often specifically sectarian Christian prayers ? associated the town with the Christian religion."

Having done that, though, the appeals court couldn't tell the town how to make the practice acceptable. If town board members advised clergy to offer only non-sectarian prayers, the board would be in effect establishing a government-approved - and therefore unconstitutional - form of religion.

The same problem seemed to flummox Supreme Court justices Wednesday. The court's previous ruling on this subject, in 1983, isn't much help. It said legislative prayers were OK because they were "part of the fabric of our society."

The obvious trouble with this "we've always done it this way" rule is that it could be used to uphold any number of longstanding but offensive practices.

Nor, as several justices noted, can the court write an acceptable prayer. That would be a far greater intrusion of government into religion.

What's needed is a nudge that prompts officials insistent on Christian prayer to consult the Golden Rule and treat others as they'd wish to be treated themselves. How would they react to explicitly Jewish or Muslim prayer? They might prefer generic prayer, multiple prayers or, as in schools, a moment of silence.

A little common sense all around would keep governments from being sued and still allow meetings to begin with an invocation. Amen to that.

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Prayers before town meetings a tricky case

Americans have reached a rough truce on the role of religion in many areas of public life.